


Living in the Grey (or A Bad Bet)

by The_Kinky_Pet



Series: Stories in the Power & Paradox Universe [10]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: BDSM AU, Gen, Other, Swearing, background sexual harassment, macho protectiveness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-06
Updated: 2017-05-06
Packaged: 2018-10-28 15:51:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10834428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Kinky_Pet/pseuds/The_Kinky_Pet
Summary: “DID YOU KNOW?!?”Clint and Natasha both turned, bewildered, to the training room door as Cap barreled in, bellowing and nostrils flaring.  He had Clint in his sights with a horrible glare—like the one from their little chat in the elevator times a thousand.“Did you know?” Cap yelled again.OR:  After the revelations of "All Hail the Conquering Hero," Steve would like to have a conversation with his teammates.  Especially Clint.  (An out-take for chapter 55 of Power and Paradox.)





	Living in the Grey (or A Bad Bet)

**Author's Note:**

> This little out-take is set during chapter 55 of P&P. 
> 
> AKA "Why were Clint, Natasha, and Steve sparing so intensely when Tony got to the gym?
> 
> Warnings for discussions of sexual harassment, macho chest-thumping, and characters being flawed and fallible.

“Always so predictable,” Nat taunted with a grin, ducking under a Johnson punch. “You shouldn’t recycle so many moves.”

Clint grunted as she scored a hard hit to his shoulder and bounded away.

“We could always go to the shooting range,” he grumbled.

He could hold his own, but there was no sense pretending he was on her level. Nat was a demon hand-to-hand. 

He dodged and maneuvered around her as she answered with a grin, “Well, if you wanted to le--”

“DID YOU KNOW?!?”

They both turned, bewildered, to the training room door as Cap barreled in, bellowing, his nostrils flaring. He had Clint in his sights with a horrible glare—like the one from their little chat in the elevator times a thousand. 

“Did you know?” Cap yelled again.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Clint asked, his blood rising in answer.

“The bet! Did you know about the bet?” Cap demanded, stalking closer. “Damn it, Barton, is that why you assumed the worst of me with Tony? You think I’m that kind of Dom because you knew about it?”

“You’re not making any fucking sense,” Clint snapped.

Cap ducked into the ring with them and took a deep breath. He was still wearing a SHIELD training uniform.

“There’s a bet,” Cap said. He was biting the words out, but at least he’d stopped yelling. “A bunch of the Doms at SHIELD. They have a bet.”

Clint gestured sharply for him to get to the fucking point.

“A bet about Tony.”

“What kind of bet about Tony?” Clint demanded with a sinking feeling. 

“You don’t know?”

“Obviously not!” Clint took a breath. “What about Tony?”

Steve’s mouth twisted bitterly. “They bet on who’d be able to get Tony down first—‘by whatever means necessary.’”

“Goddamn fucking sack of shit macho douchebag fucktards!” (God, he fucking hated SHIELD sometimes . . . He’d pick them off one by one and then—wait.)

“What the fuck, man!?” Clint yelled, giving Cap a shove for good measure. “You thought I knew about that shit? What the hell!?”

“When Tony and I got together you assumed—“

“That you wouldn’t treat him right and _I told you off_. Like fuck I knew. I wouldn’t have let that shit slide—I would have _ended them_.”

Clint wanted to punch something. (Hm. Good idea.)

“Do you know who started it?” Clint demanded, not giving Cap time to answer before he started guessing. “Bush? Johnson? No, they’re too scared of Hill. Dominick! It’s that macho asswipe, isn’t it?”

Cap nodded and Clint started for the door. 

“Clint, wait.” Cap put a hand on his shoulder. 

Clint shook him off. “Just tell me if I’m looking for him at SHIELD or if he’s already in the infirmary.”

Cap’s smile was vicious. 

“It’s being dealt with,” he said in a grim voice.

(Hm. Ominous. I like it.)

Clint’s blood was still boiling. 

“You really didn’t know.” Cap sounded relieved and convinced. (It pissed him off.)

“Of course we didn’t fucking know! We--” Clint glanced over at Natasha. “God damn it, Nat!”

Steve looked confused, but he didn’t know Nat like Clint did. 

She was making that blank, steely face she made when she was controlling her reactions, but not actually trying to deceive. It was her armor face, but not the mask. (Knew she’d been too quiet.)

“Damnit,” Clint said, tone vicious, “you knew and you didn’t say anything.”

“You didn’t need to know.”

She said it softly, but without apology. 

“So, what, you turned a blind eye?” Cap asked, belligerent again but not bellowing with the rage he’d leveled at Clint. (Hardly seems fair, but whatever.)

“It wasn’t . . .”--she deliberated--“a priority.”

“Then your priorities were out of line,” Steve said sternly. “What they did--what they’ve been doing--is _wrong_.”

“Wrong, yes,” she acknowledged. “But not dangerous. I was looking for moles in SHIELD--spying on spies, focusing on national security, tracing black money. I had to prioritize.”

“Bullshit,” Clint cut in. “You can multi-task. And you’re not a fucking amateur--you could have reported it without showing your hand. I’m sure you could.”

“I’m not actually magic,” Nat hissed, emotions finally bubbling up. (Or seeming to.) “ _You_ didn’t notice at all. Look, I can cover my tracks, but it takes time. Energy. Attention away from other things. And whatever you think--” she glanced significantly at Steve, “Tony Stark can take care of himself.”

“He shouldn’t have to!” Steve cried, waving a hand angrily.

It raised Clint’s hackles.

“Oh, what, you think that’s your job now?” Clint barely managed not to sneer. (Barely. With exceptional force of will.)

“I don’t mean it like that,” Steve said with clear exasperation and impatience. “Nobody should deal with that. It’s wrong. There are laws—especially now.”

(Ok, fine. Whatever.)

“Tony Stark likes to fight his own battles,” Nat said. “Or did you think it was an accident that the electric locks ‘malfunctioned’ and left Agent Dominick stranded in a containment unit with a ‘broken’ intercom for thirteen hours?”

Clint couldn’t help it--he laughed. (Yeah. That sounds just like Tony.) Steve frowned at him--(Seriously, Captain Dour?)-- but then what Nat said seemed to sink in and his lips twitched up too. He even looked kinda proud for a moment before returning his attention to Nat.

“It’s not just about Tony,” Cap insisted. “Not everybody is as well-equipped as Tony is to cope.”

“That’s true,” Nat said calmly. “But we’re talking about Tony. He wasn’t an employee and we weren’t--” She paused. “We weren’t a team yet.”

They glared at her. 

“When I met him, he was my mark. It was . . . different. When Fury sent me to assess him for the Initiative, I wasn’t supposed intervene unless there was a clear and present danger. So I watched. And later . . .”. She paused and glanced away in one of the most explicit shows of regret Clint had seen from her. “Later it had become habit.”

“I thought we were a team, damn it,” Cap said.

“We are. Now,” Nat answered steadily. “But I made my call then.”

“Your call was bullshit,” Clint snapped.

“You don’t have to like it,” Nat said. “But you do have to get over it. It’s done--in the past. And in the present we’re a team, even when we disagree.”

Cap looked conflicted--(Well played there, Nat.)--but Clint was still furious. He stood, awkward and fuming.

Nat stretched luxuriously.

“All right, boys,” she said with a wicked grin. “Get it out of your system--let’s spar.”

“Fuck yeah.”

What he really wanted was to beat the ever living shit out of Dom Dominick, but he wouldn’t mind tossing Nat to the mat a few times. 

“On three,” Cap agreed.

And, hey, he wouldn’t mind scoring a few on Captain Self-Righteous. 

“Three!” Clint shouted.

This was gonna be fun.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked it! 
> 
> Lots of shades of gray and characters being flawed here, but I hope you enjoyed it all the same. 
> 
> Also, outraged macho Clint is fun to write! :)
> 
> Comments are a delight and I am slowly, slowly catching up on replies! Thank you for reading!


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